


The Catch

by orphan_account



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, First Dates, superhero twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8432152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Katniss is landed with a date with socially awkward Peeta. But maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.





	1. The First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss is landed with a date with socially awkward Peeta. But maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.

One minute to six. He’d be here any time now. Katniss gave in to her nerves and went to open the bottle of wine chilling in the fridge. She poured herself a drink, just half a glass, and went back to the sofa to wait. Flipping through the channels, she settled on a wildlife documentary to try to distract herself from less pleasant thoughts, such as how she’d managed to end up in this situation.

Half an hour and two more, increasingly full, glasses of wine later and it looked like maybe the date was off after all. She shook off her shoes and curled her feet up underneath the old woollen throw that so often kept her warm when she fell asleep in front of the TV. Her body relaxed at last, lulled by the soft tones of the narrator, describing the migration of the wildebeest across the Serengeti. Her Friday night was looking up.

The door burst open and she nearly jumped out of her skin. But it was just her house mate, Johanna.

“He’s stood you up! That’s not fair. We’ll have to find another forfeit for you.”

Katniss crumpled her forehead at this. She felt bad joining in with the comments at Peeta’s expense, but she had gone along with the joke last week.

They had been drinking after work; Katniss, Jo, Finnick and Annie, when the blast from the past that was Delly Cartwright came over, her large unfettered bosom bouncing before her, as she greeted them with a high pitched squeal and kisses for everyone. Delly was in particularly high spirits having just booked a last minute holiday with her fiancé. “But, I feel so bad really,” she’d pressed her hands to her chest to emphasise her sincerity, ”Peeta’s coming back next week and I had said I would be here to welcome him, you know, help him settle back in to the area.”

Everyone remembered Delly’s cousin, Peeta Mellark. He had been socially awkward and twitchy, and carried a scent of stale cookies and cheesy crisps about him. He’d moved away the summer before high school, when his parents split up, and he was bundled off to stay with some distant relative. The unkind story that went around was that neither his mother or father had wanted him as part of the settlement.

“Oh!” Delly squawked, “You guys must remember Peeta? You wouldn’t help me out with this would you?”

Katniss had looked down hard at the table, studying the stains left from drinks spilled on the wood.

Unfortunately Finnick wasn’t good with silence or leaving anyone wanting, “One of us will do it for you Delly,” he raised his eye brows suggestively, practically loosening her panties with his dashing smile. She passed over Peeta’s details and left his reintroduction to Panem in Finnick’s dubious hands.

Katniss had lost that nights round of drinking games and been awarded the booby prize; a night out with Peeta Mellark.

So here she was, a week later and it seemed she had hit the jackpot after all. Peeta’s late arrival gave her a perfect excuse to stay in on her own with the TV. Jo had quickly changed and headed out to the bar, leaving Katniss waiting on what looked like a no show. She wandered back out to the kitchen to see what she could find to snack on, and was just popping a bagel in the toaster when someone knocked on the door.

Her bottom lip stuck out, irritated by the disruption. Surely it wouldn’t be Peeta now, over an hour late?

But there he was, much bigger than the Peeta in her mind, but still shaking like a leaf and avoiding eye contact.

“I didn’t think you were coming,” she greeted him in the abrupt manner that her friends knew to ignore.

“K..K..K..Katniss,” he stammered. “I’m sorry I’m so late.”

As he shifted his gaze from her bare feet to her left ear, earnestly avoiding her face, she noticed something glistening on his forehead.  
She reached out to touch the sticky substance, causing Peeta to withdraw further into his coat as though her fingertips might scald him. 

“You’re bleeding!”

“Oh,” he looked at the red stain, now spread to her hand. “I had a bit of a bump. That’s why I’m late. I’ve had to abandon my car, I’m afraid.”

“Peeta,” she tried in vain to get him to look at her, “are you O.K.?”

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep apologising,” her tone had softened just a semi-tone, barely noticeable, but it was enough for Peeta to finally look at her. “Sorry, it’s a habit.” He shrugged apologetically.

Katniss grabbed his elbow and dragged him into the ground floor apartment she shared with Joanna. She directed him to sit in the kitchen whilst she found a pack of plasters.

“So what happened to you?” she asked, dabbing at his forehead with some cotton wool. It was one of those oozy abrasions that wouldn’t stop leaking, but the flow was sluggish.

“I think you’ll live,” she muttered, interrupting before he could answer; she pressed the dressing down, struggling a little to get the cheap adhesive to stick to his damp skin. Peeta remained patiently still, allowing her to tend to his wound in her cack-handed way.

She leant back to look at her handy work and had to cover her mouth to stifle a giggle. She’d managed to make him look odder than ever, with a layer of sticking plasters in the middle of his forehead. 

She swallowed it down as his blue eyes met hers, pricking her conscience. She remembered Peeta at school. He always seemed so innocent, so underserving of the taunts he had to take every day. She’d never once seen him retaliate even when he had his chair snatched away just when he was going to sit down, or his lunch thrown around the yard.

She peeled the plasters away. “Sorry, that doesn’t look right.”  
The bleeding seemed to have stopped anyway. “It’ll probably heal better left to the air.”

“Thank you.” His smile really changed his face, like a shaft of light peeking through the clouds could make you see the day in a different light.

Katniss was annoyed to feel heat rising in her cheeks, so turned away to the fridge.

“Would you like a drink?”

Peeta looked at his watch, “Well,” he hesitated, “if we leave now we could still make the show.”

This caught Katniss off guard. He still wanted to go ahead with the date. She sucked in her breath and let it out slowly, remembering that had been the deal, ‘a night out with Peeta Mellark.’

“O.K., where are we going?” 

They had exchanged messages to confirm the time and her address, and Peeta had insisted on it being his treat. “The museum.”  


“Great,” Katniss didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, because that didn’t seem so bad to her. It would make a nice change from hanging out at the bar with the usual suspects on a Friday night.

“There’s a visiting astro-physicist giving a lecture, she’s supposed to be really good!” 

“Fantastic!” Katniss couldn’t help but hear Joanna’s jeering voice echoing at the back of her head. She was going to love this story.

Peeta appeared to know the bus timetable off by heart, enough to know if they left straight away they’d be just in time to catch the 106 that stopped just outside the museum.

They sat side by side, Katniss staring out into the damp darkness of the autumn evening, Peeta fidgeting and squirming, his nerves alive with the whole experience. She noticed he didn’t smell stale anymore. In fact he had a good smell now, something warm and spicy. It reminded her of walking into the kitchen just when the oven was ready to be opened. Her stomach gurgled loudly at the thought.

“Sorry,” Peeta was managing to look at her when he spoke by now. “We missed dinner because of my accident.”

She dismissed his concern again, although in truth she was just about hungry enough to start gnawing on her own hand. She didn’t want him to feel guilty for being in an accident.

As she avoided catching his eye, sure he would be able to tell she was lying, Katniss noticed the phone screen in the hands of the person sitting in front of her. 

There was a news headline:  
“Ten mile tailbacks after multi-vehicle pile up. Strange lights over city distract drivers.”

“Peeta.” She barked his name out to make sure she had his full attention. “Don’t tell me that was the ‘bump’ you were involved in. 

The colour blooming in his cheeks answered for him. 

“We could have rearranged you know?” 

The blush deepened. “I didn’t think I’d ever get another opportunity to take you out.” 

Katniss folded her arms across her chest. “I may have a reputation, but I’m not actually that heartless.” 

“I didn’t mean that. I meant, well, I’ve been really looking forward to seeing you tonight. That’s all.”

They sat in companionable silence after this small revelation. Both of them busy with their own thoughts and not sure what else to say. Katniss didn’t often get sweet compliments like that. Nobody looked forward to seeing her scowling face. 

The show at the museum was fascinating and beautiful too. The ceiling was covered with projections of various solar systems and galaxies. Katniss lost herself as she gazed up at the heavens and rested her head on Peeta’s shoulder. He froze beneath her, holding his breath in fear of spoiling the moment. But she stayed there, the softness of her body leaning into him, until the lights came up, bringing them back down to earth again. Katniss stretched out her limbs, they felt loose for a change, in fact she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so relaxed. Her hand caught Peeta on the face as she arched back. She span round to apologise but he was grinning, enjoying the rare sight of Katniss with her guard down. 

“I enjoyed that, a lot of what she was saying went over my head but it was very interesting,” she babbled a little to cover up the awkward feeling of finding herself so close to Peeta now the lights were back on. 

“I’m glad it was ok as a choice for tonight. It’s kind of my thing. I’ve been studying cosmology at Uni.” 

Katniss hadn’t expected that. But then again she really didn’t know much about Peeta at all other than he was Delly’s cousin, came from a broken home, and had always been treated as a bit of a joke by the other boys in her class. But that was a long time ago. 

“Why did you come back?” Katniss could only imagine this city would have bad memories for Peeta. 

His face tensed and she wondered at herself for prying. It wasn’t even like her to show an interest in anybody else’s business. Her own life experience had given her plenty of respect for privacy.

“Nowhere else to go, I guess,” he replied with a shrug, and she let it go.

The auditorium was nearly empty and an elderly security guard was encouraging people to vacate the building so he could lock up for the night.

“Would you like to get something to eat?” Peeta managed to pluck up the courage to ask, not wanting the evening to be over just yet.

Katniss looked at her watch. Already ten o’clock, it was a bit late for eating, but she was hungry.

“O.k.” she allowed, “why not?”

Puzzlingly, Peeta went over to talk to the security guard. She noticed how much easier he looked as they joked about something together. He wasn’t stammering or shrinking into his coat. In fact she couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to fill his clothes out very well when he relaxed. He looked up at her just as she had this thought, so it was her turn to feel shy as he beckoned her over.

The guard unlocked a door at the back of the theatre that opened into a service area for staff. Peeta dropped coins into a vending machine, choosing some sandwiches and fruit and a couple of cups of hot chocolate, passing the drinks over for Katniss to carry.

“This way,” he took the lead into a lift.

Katniss followed, her heart beating a little faster with the uncertainty of where he was going to take her next.

She watched the buttons light up, one by one as they passed floors 1 to 5, stopping with a judder when they came to the top. The door opened out onto the roof.

Now it was just the two of them Peeta was nervous again, dropping a sandwich and apologising.

“This was probably a bad idea, there’s nothing up here.”

He was right about that. There was a bench and a plant pot with cigarette ends stubbed into the soil. But Katniss could immediately see the reason for coming up here even if you didn’t smoke. The lights of the city were spread out sparkling before them and the lights of the stars bejewelled the sky above. The sounds of cars floating up from the streets made the city’s music as they passed by before disappearing out into the night air.

She put her hand on Peeta’s to reassure him as they sat down.

“How did you know about this place?”

“I used to spend a lot of time here when I lived with my parents. It was my escape.”

He opened the remaining sandwich for them to share. Maybe it was because she was so hungry, or maybe it was the fresh air, but the bread and cheese tasted better than any vending machine food she had ever had before.

She wandered over to look out at the city, trying to pick out her street from the map of roads below. It was probably a little over to the east from here she thought and leaned out over the rail to try to see around the corner of the building. As she tilted her body, the stiletto’s she had chosen to wear when she thought the date would be in a restaurant slipped out from underneath her.

For a second she was falling, the world moved past in a dizzying way, confusing her sense of direction. She knew she had to grab hold of something but her hands were too slow.

And then she was still. Something strong and solid had a hold of her, burying her in its grasp. Looking up, she found herself face to face with Peeta. She gripped onto his neck for dear life, closing her eyes as she glimpsed the sight of her legs dangling with sixty feet of air between her and the ground.

When she dared to look again they were sat back on the bench, Peeta still cradling her in his arms. She clung on, in shock, not wanting to let go. Quietly, he whispered soothing words into her hair, rubbing her arms and fingers until they loosened their hold. She couldn’t quite make sense of what had happened. She had been sure she was going to die, but Peeta had been there. How he had reached her in the second it took to fall she couldn’t fathom.

“How…?” was all she could manage to say.

“Sssh, stop thinking about what might have been. Everything is O.K.”

Words failed her, but she hugged Peeta close, her body thanking him for being there.

“You’re Ok,” he reassured, “but I think it’s time to go.”

Katniss fell asleep on the bus ride home. Peeta wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulder and cursed himself for taking her on the roof and putting her in danger. He’d spoiled everything as always.

In her dream Katniss flew over the city, marvelling at the lights that blurred together as they picked up speed. Peeta carried her in his arms, and although they seemed to be flying without any wings or motor, she felt no fear.

Back on her doorstep, blue eyes and grey danced around each other and feet shuffled.

“Sorry,” Peeta finally spoke, “I guess that’s probably been one of the worst nights of your life.”

Katniss looked up in surprise. She hadn’t been thinking that at all. “No, I’ve definitely had worst dates.”

“Really!” He found that pretty hard to believe.

“Oh yes,” She smiled back at him, “Like when I went out with Gale and I hadn’t even realised it was supposed to be a date until he kissed me.” She shuddered at the memory of how uncomfortable they’d been around each other for a month afterwards.

“Well, I won’t make that mistake,” Peeta took a step backwards.

Katniss reached out for his hand and pulled him back. Before she could think about it too much, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek.

“Shall we give it another go? Next Friday? But I’ll choose what we do this time.”

His smile made her feel like she missed him, even though he was standing there in front of her.

“Next Friday. It’s a date.” The warmth of his lips grazed over her cheek as he gave her a quick farewell hug before turning to go.

Katniss watched as he walked away, the street lights seemed to flicker and glow brighter in turn as he walked past.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scolded herself. He had saved her life, but she needed to stop getting carried away with this.

He turned back and waved as he reached the end of the road. Could he still see her from there? And then he was gone. As she watched the space where he had been, an orange light appeared in the sky, hovering for a second, before floating off. Katniss recalled the headline about the car crash. Drivers had been distracted by strange lights in the sky. She hoped Peeta made it home without another accident. Perhaps she’d give him a call in a bit, just to make sure he’d got back safely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone requested a part 2; so here goes.

Katniss stood on her doorstep looking up at the sky, thinking about the heavens and beyond. There was so much more out there, so much more than her small life in this corner of Panem.

Waste paper danced in the wake of a car, rain water sprayed up from the kerb, sending a shiver across her shoulders and down her back. Turning away from the space left by Peeta, she closed the door and was met by a strong smell of burned bagel. She’d forgotten all about it with tending to Peeta’s forehead. The ball of screwed up band aid was still lying on the table. Katniss tossed it across the room to land neatly in the bin.  


Nearly midnight, Johanna would be back soon. She realised she hadn’t switched her phone back on after the lecture; there would usually be some drunk messages from Johanna by this time on a Friday night. Sure enough, they were there waiting for her:  


_If he’s bottled you should get your lame ass down here. Finnick’s buying. ___

_Are you asleep?_

_So you’re having sex with Smellark! Reply or the rumour starts._

Katniss squirmed at her friend’s teasing. She’d forgotten the nickname Peeta had suffered in school. She had never used it herself but she still felt guilty for not doing more to stand up for him.

_I’m going to bed now. Alone._

She wanted to add something about Peeta, but couldn’t think of the right thing so left it at that.

Johanna, however, was not going to leave it.

At two in the morning she was woken by her light being switched on and the weight of someone dropping heavily next to her. Beery breath was blown in her face as her name was called.

“Katniss, Katniss. Wake up and dish the dirt.”

Another thump landed on the mattress, accompanied by Finnick’s voice.

“I heard you were at it like rabbits. Who would have thought Smellark had it in him.”

It was too much for Katniss to ignore. With a burst of movement she sat up and opened her eyes to glare at her friends.

“We had a nice, civilised evening. He was a complete gentleman. And stop calling him Smellark.”

The pair passed a knowing look between themselves, and sniggered.

“It’s love” Finnick mouthed noiselessly, holding his chest and feigning collapse onto the bed.

Johanna pushed herself up and grabbed his hands to pull him with her.

“We better leave her to sort her self out.”

“Sweet dreams of stale buns Katniss.”

The door shut just in time to stop Katniss’ pillow from hitting Finnick square in the face.

“He doesn’t smell stale,” Katniss carried on the argument under her breath, getting up to reclaim her pillow.

She paused on her way back to bed to peer out of the window, craning her neck to try to see the night sky; but living on the ground floor meant the most she could glimpse was a slither of black over the building across the way. Nothing that could inspire like the view from the museum. Katniss decided not to mention to Finnick and Johanna that she planned to see Peeta again. They were good friends but sometimes they just didn’t get her.

By Friday they had exhausted all the jokes they could come up with about the date, and as far as they were concerned Peeta Mellark was finished with as a source of entertainment. An unfamiliar thrill passed through Katniss as she gave Jo a white lie to explain why she wouldn’t be out with her and Finnick again this week.

“I forgot to say, its Rue’s last day today. Everyone’s going out for drinks after work, so I won’t be coming to the bar.”

It _was __Rue’s last day, and everyone _was __going out. She just wouldn’t be with them.__

“See you later.”

She swiftly exited before Jo could tell she was trying to hide something, a bag with her change of clothes burning on her arm.

Katniss worked at the hospital, in the path lab, analysing blood and tissue samples, a safe distance from any direct contact with anyone sick or injured, but staying in the family tradition of health care. It did get a bit boring at times, running the same tests over and over again, but Katniss knew from experience that life would throw up its own surprises without needing to look for them .There were worse things to suffer than boredom.

Today’s shift went by quickly. She stopped to share lunch with Rue as she wasn’t going to join in with the farewell drinks. Rue didn’t mind, she knew Katniss didn’t really enjoy social gatherings and they had already arranged to meet up again next week. Leaving the lab didn’t mean they wouldn’t keep in touch.

“I’m going to miss you around here though,” Katniss sighed, “who am I going to eat lunch with now?”

“Try not to become a complete recluse,” Rue teased back, “but maybe you’ll have enough going on with Peeta?”

She’d been the only one Katniss had felt able to talk to about Peeta. Having never met him before, she wasn’t tainted by any preconceived ideas. Rue was just glad to see Katniss excited about meeting someone. It had never happened before.

Katniss dismissed the comment.  


“It’s just a second date. I want to help him feel welcome. It must be hard coming back after so many years and I could tell there are bad memories for him here.”

“Ok,” Rue left it at that, knowing Katniss didn’t like talking about her feelings, but Peeta had certainly come up in conversation more than anyone other than her family had ever before. She just hoped he deserved someone as faithful and true as Katniss.

As they got up to go back to work, Rue couldn’t resist putting her arms round Katniss and squeezing her tight. “Make sure you stay in touch, ok.”

Katniss hugged her back. “I will, I promise.”

By 6pm nearly everyone had left the lab and Katniss went to change into the dress she had brought with her for the date. She had decided to play it safe and take Peeta to her favourite Chinese restaurant. The food was always good, and she found it easier to be pleasant if she wasn’t hungry. She just wanted to get to know Peeta better, nothing more just yet.

Wearing her old, burnt orange jersey dress also made her feel comfortable. It flared out just above the knee and looked fine with her knee high boots. No risking stiletto’s tonight. Combing her hair out of its braid, she decided to give him a quick text before she set off.

_“You’re still on for tonight?” ___  


His reply bounced back, reassuringly quickly.  
_“Of course, I’ve been looking forward to it all week.” ___  


_“Good. I’ll pick you up in about half an hour. __  
_“Thankyou. I’ll be ready.”__

Peeta’s apartment was near the university. As far as Katniss could make out from the messages they’d exchanged during the week he was carrying out research, she assumed for a PhD or some other higher degree, and that had brought him back to Panem. He was a little vague when she asked him about what he did, maybe he thought she wouldn’t understand or find it boring, but she was really interested in the way the universe worked and looked forward to finding out more over dinner.

His voice came out through the speaker when she buzzed, still hesitant but not stammering. “Should I come straight down or would you like to come up first?”

She thought she’d like to see where he lived so asked to go up.

Whereas Katniss lived next to the street, her feet firmly planted on the ground, Peeta’s flat was right at the top of the building. It was small, just one room aside from the bathroom, with exposed wood flooring and white walls broken up by framed pictures of galaxies and astral images.

Peeta himself seemed a bit more at ease than he had the week before. Seeing him dressed in a button down shirt, Katniss realised he hadn’t taken his coat off the whole time they were at the museum.

“Has your head healed up ok?” she asked, remembering their last meeting.

“Yes,” he touched his fingers to his forehead and held them out as evidence that there was no bleeding this time. “It’s fine, thanks.” He looked at her face, and managed to hold eye contact for a second. “I’m sorry about last week.”

“Why?” Katniss looked away at the same moment, aware she was in danger of staring into the intense blue of his eyes.

“Well, your fall. It wasn’t a good idea to go up on the roof.”

“No. It was a good idea, I got it, it’s a great view. The problem was those stupid shoes I was wearing.”

He noticed the flat-heeled leather boots she had on now, she wasn’t taking any chances tonight.

“I should have taken you somewhere better suited to your shoes. It wasn’t really much of a date.”

Katniss felt his gaze on her as he took in what she was wearing. She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not going to spend all evening arguing with you about it, but I did enjoy it. That lecture was really interesting. I know I work looking at cells, but I’m interested in the bigger picture too.”

Her remark stopped his apologising, but they were left with silence. She looked out his window to find another view of the night sky.

“How did you get into cosmology?”

Peeta came over to stand by her side. It was easier to talk like this without the distraction of looking into each others eyes. “When I left Panem, I went to live with my uncle. Well, my dad’s brother. I don’t know if you heard I was adopted? I think they thought having me would make them into a family, but it didn’t workout. Anyway, my dad’s brother, Haymitch, said I could stay with him. He lived out in the desert, where there are no street lights to spoil the stars. He gave me my first telescope and there was no going back from there. I found my place in the universe.”

They looked out of the window together, but instead of seeing the stars, Katniss was distracted by the reflection of Peeta’s face in the glass. He didn’t belong anywhere on the earth so he’d found his home amongst the planets. It made her want to give him a real home. She fought down the surge of soft-hearted feeling for Peeta. ”Its probably time we got going.”

The restaurant was bustling with attentive waiters and the chatter of contented diners.

Their table was ready and soon they were sharing the tangy flavours of Katniss’s favourite Chinese dishes. Eating helped Katniss to relax and the food filled any gaps in conversation. There were no awkward silences tonight as they talked their way through Panem (managing not to mention school), the hospital, Rue, and the universe. By the time they were waiting to pay the bill Katniss had just found out that Peeta painted and she felt comfortable enough to tell him about her love of hiking in the hills outside the city.

“If you like you could come with me next weekend, bring your sketchpad?”

He was about to accept when he stopped and took in the image of Katniss sitting across from him; asking him out again. She was looking particularly beautiful tonight, her skin glowing against the muted orange of her dress, her hair softly tumbling down the side of her neck. There was nothing to compare with her in the cold vacuum of space.

Her serious grey eyes waited for him to reply, fluttering away when he tried to see what was going on inside her mind. It had seemed like she might really be interested in things he had said tonight.

Then he remembered this was all too good to be true. He had decided to just enjoy the evening whatever her reason for asking him. But suggesting they meet again was taking a joke too far.

“That’s ok, I think two dates more than pays off losing a bet or whatever.” He tried his best to sound cool about it, but it came out sounding bitter.

“Huh?” Katniss wasn’t expecting that, she had thought they were starting to understand each other.

“I know you only came out with me because you lost a drinking game.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her now.

“Who told you that?”

“Finnick.” Peeta twisted his napkin tight around his hand. “He was checking up on me for Delly, took me out for a drink last night. It’s ok, I can see the funny side. Anyway, Delly will be back tomorrow, so you’re off the hook.”

Katniss didn’t know who she was most angry with, Finnick for being so thoughtless, Peeta for having such a low opinion of her or Delly, for starting the whole thing by treating this sensitive, intelligent man, as though he was a child who needed baby sitting.

It was suddenly clear who she held responsible for sabotaging her evening.

“Finnick has a big mouth and he doesn’t know anything about how I feel. He didn’t even know we were meeting up tonight.”

“Why didn’t you want him to know?”

“Because its no-ones business but ours.”

They were grateful for to be interrupted by the bill arriving.

Neither of them could manage to say anything as Katniss drove Peeta back to his apartment. By the time she pulled up, he was back to the awkward stranger she had met last week.

“Sorry, for spoiling the evening. I shouldn’t have said anything.” He mumbled, wiping his hand on his trousers before touching the door handle.

Katniss didn’t want it to end like this. “Wait! Peeta… I really enjoyed this evening; and our first date. There’s something different about you. And, well, I kind of like it.”

Peeta felt like he might pass out if he didn’t get out the car.

With no more words coming, she reached over to take his hand to get his attention. His shy smile was irresistible, and she found herself grinning back at him.

Eventually his heart slowed down enough to hear himself speak. “So, I can tell Delly I’ve managed to make a friend?” he joked.

“I think we’ve even survived our first row,” she pulled him in for a hug, burrowing her face into the warmth of his shoulder.

“Goodnight Katniss,” he whispered into her hair.

For the next couple of weeks Katniss stuck with the usual routine of work (where she badly missed Rue) and nights in front of the television. She was trying to save up some money to buy Christmas presents and drinking with Johanna and Finnick had lost the little appeal it once had. Peeta was busy with whatever it was he did so they hadn’t met up again, but they called or messaged each other every day.

Eventually, Johanna insisted that Katniss join her at their local bar. It was Halloween, and the manager, Effie, had decided to get into the spirit by decorating the place with cotton wool cobwebs and serving cocktails with ghoulish names. She was up to date with all the shows she was watching so agreed to come out for an hour or two, on the clear understanding that she would not be dressing up in any way.

Katniss couldn’t blame Effie for trying to drum up some extra business, but the bar had just ended up looking a bit more shabby than usual with its last minute make over. Only Effie had a costume on, although everyone else seemed to have reached the same compromise of dressing in black, giving the room a certain strange, if not spooky, feel.

A pair of blonde heads stood out at the bar. Jo followed Katniss’ gaze and laughed. “Looks like loverboy tracked you down.”

Peeta looked different tonight. Styled by Delly, he was wearing a plain black, long-sleeved t-shirt and black skinny jeans, which hugged his thighs as he perched on a stool. His hair had been slicked back from his face, making it harder for him to hide the startling blue of his eyes.

“My, my, look what happened to Smellark! I wouldn’t mind freshening that up.”

“Johanna…”

Before Katniss could stop her she was stood with her chest in Peeta’s face.

Delly was delighted to see them. “I hoped we’d see you tonight. I wanted to thank you for helping to settle Peeta back in to Panem. I heard you let him take you out Katniss.”  
She nudged Peeta’s arm to try to get him to join in, “You might have come back sooner if you’d known you were going to get that sort of a welcome.”

Katniss rolled her eyes on Peeta’s behalf. He was twitchy tonight, hunched over, fiddling with his watch. She wished it was just the two of them so she could find out what was on his mind.

“I’m just going to the rest room,” she leaned over to put her drink on the bar by Peeta, exchanging a quick glance with him.

“I’ll come too.” He jumped off his stool.

She cringed inside and scowled at Johanna who was smirking into her glass.

“Sorry” he apologised, as they walked away together, “that was the wrong thing to say. I just wanted to let you know I have to go, I have something I have to do tonight.”

“Really? What’s that?” she suspected he was just making excuses to get away from socialising.

“It’s complicated,” he replied cagily.

“Ok, well, get home safely.” She squeezed his arm, wishing he could stay longer.

Looking over, she could see Delly and Johanna had now been joined by a couple of other people she didn’t know. She didn’t even need the bathroom but she’d rather be there than stood with the group at the bar. Peeta was just leaving. She decided to follow him outside, thinking she could ask him to come back to her place so they could catch up; maybe they could watch something scary together.

She couldn’t spot him at first; it was a particularly black night with the moon hidden behind clouds. Fog had started to form in the cold air. Katniss shivered and tucked her face into her black woollen sweater. Then she noticed his blonde hair under a streetlight. He was headed down towards the river away from the residential streets.

She followed, wondering if he was lost. He probably didn’t know this side of town. There were no bus routes that would go down there.

But Peeta moved fast, he seemed determined to get somewhere. Practically jogging, Katniss lifted her pace to keep up; intrigued to find out what he was up to. She had hoped to catch up to him but he was nearly out of sight already, disappearing into the darkness between the lights, only the burst of blonde as he passed under a lamp kept her on his track. She was running now, but she couldn’t seem to gain on him. He must be running too, but why? Did he know she was following him, was he running away from her?

The fog was thick as they neared the water; the shadow she was assuming was Peeta broke up amongst the cloud, until she couldn’t make him out at all.  
Katniss leant on her knees, the cold air caught in her chest as she gulped it in. She had reached the river and found herself alone. Peeta was nowhere to be seen. The white veil of fog swirled over the water and wrapped around her, trapping her in a game of blind man’s buff.

There was a shriek; someone was out there. A young couple appeared out of the darkness, and nearly walked straight into her. Their eyes were large and round , shocked stalks stuck out of white painted faces, and she realised in her black clothes she was practically invisible. She had scared them coming out of the night.

“Have you seen a man down here? Dressed in black like me?"

“No,sorry.” They clearly didn’t want to stop and carried on their way, laughing together as they vanished into the night.

She couldn’t just go back and leave Peeta; he couldn’t have meant to come this way. She tried calling him, listening out for a ring tone, but there was no tone and no answer. Just the sound of the river as it slowly flowed past.

Katniss hadn’t been down here in a long time. Her father used to bring her to look at the boats. There was a small dock where goods for the city were offloaded onto trucks. They’d watch for a while, then he’d lift her up on to his shoulders and she’d ride up high, clinging around his neck as he walked along the banks to the play park. She had forgotten all about that.

Right now she was finding it hard to picture how any of this would look in the daylight, there were no landmarks to guide her to the docks or the park. The only constant was the water.

Out there the fog seemed to have thinned as it drifted, wandering aimlessly across the dark surface of the river. The thought of the cold dark fluid scared her. Surely Peeta wouldn’t be in there. It was the antithesis of his world of light and sky.

At first it looked like the fog was changing colour, its whiteness turning more golden, so gradually if she hadn’t been focused on it she wouldn’t have even noticed. And then there was no mistaking something was happening, a burst of orange. It wasn’t in the fog, it was descending, out of the night, until Katniss couldn’t see for the blinding brightness. Something landed hard on the surface of the water, with a crack waves were thrown out to the bank as the light was extinguished. Her hands covered her head, she braced herself; but nothing hit her, just the blackness and cold returning. The only sound was a gentle splashing; something was trying to move through the water.

It took a moment for her eyes to readjust to the dark, and at first she doubted what she saw; but there was no mistake, it was him, Peeta, just about staying afloat, floundering in the icy river.

Without another thought she dived in, she knew it would be cold, but it still stole her breath away. Just keep moving she coached herself, swimming hard towards Peeta. Luckily there was little current in the old river. Katniss moved powerfully through the water; she grabbed Peeta’s T-shirt, turning him over onto his back to tow him back to land. “Kick your legs,” she instructed, more to try to keep him warm than to help her, she had more than enough adrenalin pumping for the both of them.

Getting out was the hardest part, but Peeta was able to help himself once they reached the bank. They landed side by side, teeth chattering, bodies jerking with the cold. Katniss knew they should get up and moving to prevent hypothermia, but she was too confused by what she had just seen.

“W..w..what, what, what just h..h..happened?”

He reached out and started rubbing her arms vigorously.

“I th..th..think you just saved me.”

“We might still freeze to death,” she allowed him to pull her close to his body, as they shivered together.

“I saw you Peeta. You fell out of the sky.” She rubbed his back as she clung to his chest, desperately trying to get some warmth back into both of them.

“This is no good; we can’t get warm out here.” The freezing fog circled ominously around them. She was distracted by the feeling that they may actually be going to die from the cold, but she still needed to understand what she had seen.

“So…? What happened?”

She’d just leapt into an icy river to save him. He owed her an explanation.

Peeta knew it too.

He looked down at her, shaking in his arms. Her lips had a bluish tinge to them.

“I think it will be easier to show you.”

“O.k. then; show me.”

He’d never tried this before, but he thought it would work. Landing was the tricky part, but if they didn't go too high, it should be o.k. "You have to hold on to me really, really tightly."

She pressed into him, clinging on for dear life. His heart beat pounded in her ear.

He wrapped her in his arms, “Ready? It starts with a vibration and some heat and then, we’re going to fly.”

They had been shaking from the cold, but now Peeta was moving faster, almost blurring in front of her.

“Hold on tight.” He repeated.

She gripped hold with one arm around his neck, the other hand holding on to the back of his t-shirt. Along with the vibrations, heat was emanating from his body. He started to glow.

It was amazing, of course, but all she could think was that this was the most reckless thing she had ever done. She never rode her bike without a helmet and yet here she was, about to trust Peeta to fly with her in his arms. She looked up to see the clouds had moved to reveal the moon, nearly full above them. A couple of stars twinkled as, millions of miles away, gases moved over suns. Knowing the facts about stars didn’t stop the feeling when you looked at them. Peeta had agreed about that. He said that feeling of belonging to the stars was just as much of a fact as any other more mathematically proven theories.

You're sure you won't drop me."

“Don’t worry, Katniss. There are forces holding us together now; I can't let you go.”


End file.
